https://insidehmcts.blog.gov.uk/12-months-of-justice-the-hmcts-2024-review-podcast-transcript/
12 Months of Justice: The HMCTS 2024 Review - podcast transcript
Aaron Wilson:
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of Inside HMCTS with me, Aaron Wilson, from the communications team. In today's episode, we'll be reflecting on the best of 2024, looking back at the highlights from the year across HMCTS.
We saw new systems implemented, new campaigns launched, additional courtrooms opened, and even a change of government midway through the year. So now is an ideal time to take a look back at a year filled with progress and transformation within HMCTS.
This year kicked off with the launch of our inside criminal courts campaign, featuring weekly insights from our colleagues across the United Kingdom.
We had some team members in a variety of roles from a court usher to a business change manager, with the idea being to give a look behind the scenes at how different roles contribute to the delivery of justice.
Here's what Nasima, a court clerk, had to say about the role she plays in justice.
Nasima Begum:
So the main role, of the court clerk is making sure that your court is running smoothly. So getting your court from a to b, start of the day till the end of the day. Then there's the role of administration.
So making sure any orders from a hearing, is all getting done. And it's also about case progression. So making sure that a case is go going from start to finish with no issues whatsoever. And then on the side, I mean, I wouldn't say it's the main part of the role, but I am there to assist the judge. So that is, it is a part of the role, but I wouldn't say it's the biggest part of the role because there is so much that we do in the day.
But I am here as an assistant to the judge, to make sure that, a, he's doing the right thing, and b, just helping him out if he if he needs anything and just making sure that my case is running smoothly. I have a passion for justice. Just the justice system, getting justice for both defendants and victims. And then the other thing that I love about my job is that every day is different. Every day is a new story, a new, you know, a new victim, a new defendant, and no 2 days are the same and I love that every day, is so varied.
Aaron Wilson:
Nasima there sharing her contributions to justice.
This year, we also launched this very podcast taking a deeper dive into some of the projects and initiatives being delivered across the organisation.
We've been lucky enough to have some fantastic speakers on the podcast, and we'll continue to bring you more stories as we head into 2025. If you haven't caught up with our other 9 installments yet and fancy some listening over Christmas, head to our blog where you can find every single episode. Simply search ‘Inside HMCTS podcast’.
We've explored open days, discovered more about the small claims mediation service, heard about the outreach work we're doing with the University of Reading, and even looked at how we're improving access to justice across our courts and tribunals to make the system accessible to everyone that needs it. Let's say more about that now from Mike Williams, our deputy director for service excellence.
Mike Williams:
Often when people think about accessibility, it's the kind of the physical access into court. So, you know, how do you get round, with ramps or wider doors, for example, with for people with physical disabilities is where the work that my teams get involved with is, is around the whole range of accessibility.
So that might be somebody who has a visual impairment or maybe neurodiverse. So there there's a huge range of of things that we get involved with.
Aaron Wilson:
In October, we had a host of guests join us for the anti-knife crime event at Westminster Magistrates Court, which was a great opportunity for communities across justice to come together and highlight the dangers of carrying a weapon.
We were lucky enough to be joined by Ian Rawlins, a legal adviser from London, who gave us his views on why events like this are so important.
Ian Rawlins:
Teddy Burton, one of the heads from Winchmore, he came up to me and said, yeah, this is brilliant this is really good, I'm really enjoying myself, I didn't know it was going to be this good. I'm really happy about it, I'm mad about it, he said, and that's the teacher.
And it was good to see when Steel Warriors were doing their calisthenics with the bars that where the teachers were getting involved in the midst of things, she was putting the kids to shame with how many, dips she could do. And, she actually emailed me when she got home to say what a brilliant day she had, and the kids were buzzing on the train going home.
Aaron Wilson:
Unfortunately, we must acknowledge that incidents do sometimes happen, such as knife crime, and justice needs to be dealt fairly and accordingly.
Our mission not only remains to continue to improve the system, but also expand our court and tribunal capacity to deal with cases more efficiently.
There's been no exception to that this year, and we've opened several new sites and courtrooms, including our new state of the art Westgate Business and Property Court and Employment Tribunals in Leeds, additional courtrooms in Fleetwood, and announcing plans for a new hub for justice in Blackpool to name a few examples.
Let's return to Leeds now to hear from northeast delivery director Graeme who told us what the opening of Westgate means for justice.
Graeme Goldsmith:
This new building will give us much needed flexibility in the northeast. In Leeds, specifically, it gives us more than 50 hearing rooms across 3 different sites within a 250-yard radius.
The facilities are really modern, and so that level of IT investment that we've got means that there will be significant flexibility for me as a delivery director as our workload changes between now and into the future. I think as well, it will give the staff a new modern purpose-built building for them to deliver the best service that they can for the public.
In every room in every courtroom and hearing room in this building has got state of the art IT equipment, so we can deal with remote hearings, we can deal with bringing witnesses in or claimants in from anywhere in the world. We've got an ability as well for judges to be able to interact with parties in a different way, we don't necessarily need everybody to be here in person. So we can do hybrid hearings, we can do fully remote hearings, we can also do more traditional in person hearings with all the parties in the courtroom. and just in terms of the volume of work that we've undertaken already, we've already dealt with over 200 commercial disputes in the Business and Property Courts.
We've got a real range of different employment tribunal work that we deal with from individuals who have an issue with their employer and are acting in person, right the way up to huge equal peer claims across some of the big supermarkets that we've been dealing with as well. So the range of disputes that we deal with and the range of issues that we resolve is quite significant in this new building.
Aaron Wilson:
Nightingale courts have also played a key part in delivering justice since the pandemic back in 2020 and this year, we extended 20 locations in order to keep justice moving forwards.
One of our other lasting commitments remains to ensure justice is open and transparent, something our open day events contribute to massively. They provide the public the chance to see behind the scenes of justice, chat with our colleagues, and often experience how processes work within the courtroom.
Let's remind ourselves what our colleagues said our open day held in Derby.
Glynn:
I think it's it's vital to get the public into public buildings. This is a fantastic building, but so that they can see and experience the sort of work we do.
Bal Atwal:
So my name is. I'm deputy bench chairman for South Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court and my role today has been welcoming the public into our courtrooms, answering any questions, but I've also been defense solicitor as part of our mock trial in one of the call rooms today.
Watching a 9 year old boy do be part of the, mock trial and be the defendant, he did an amazing job. Itwas so rewarding to watch it, and well done him.
Aaron Wilson:
Whilst we facilitated plenty of external events, we've also had some closer to home, and our annual regional and national awards were a great success once again this year. These events helped to shine a small light on some of the outstanding contributions to justice that our colleagues make and how they make a difference every single day.
Our team attended the national awards in September and caught up with Katie, one of our bailiffs. Here's what she had to say after collecting her well-deserved award.
Katy Watts:
Why was I nominated? I was nominated, because when I first started, I saved a life. A man had stopped breathing in front of me, so I had to do CPR.
It made me determined to want to be a part of HMCTS, because I obviously realised that I'm doing something right and it made me a strong person, I would say, because anything after that is easy.
I'm proud of working for HMCTS because as much as it is hard, and we all have really hard roles to do, we're like family, and everybody looks after everybody, and that's a really nice thing.
Aaron Wilson:
As a multinational organisation, our teams in Scotland and Wales have also had a busy year administrating justice. I caught up with Hannah-Jo from Scotland to find out more about the state of play in tribunals there, but first, let's hear from my colleague, Rhydian, who told me more about some of the work in Wales that's taken place this year.
So, Rhydian, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for joining us. Firstly, it's been a busy year in Wales by all accounts. So, tell me, how did 2024 start off for you?
Rhydian Jenkins:
Thank you very much. So we kicked off the year in February with cyberbullying awareness sessions at Cardiff Magistrates Court with over 200 children in attendance and then by March, MyHMCTS became available to professional users in Welsh enhancing accessibility. And then in April, we launched the second Pathfinder project in Southeast Wales, followed by a ‘lessons learned’ workshop later in the year in November with 126 attendees.
Aaron Wilson:
Brilliant. And there's been some outstanding work in the region this year, but can you tell me how you celebrate success within the organisation as well?
Rhydian Jenkins:
Yeah. No problem. So, the regional award ceremony in July saw that as our best yet, combining formal recognition with and then in August, our Welsh language team enjoyed engaging with the public during the National Eisteddfod in Pontypridd.
And then September brought 3 runners up at the National Awards alongside the relaunch of the updated bailiff manual. And then in October, we hosted the annual legal service for the first time in the beautiful Saint David's Cathedral.
Aaron Wilson:
Brilliant. And has there been any other successful projects supported the delivery of justice in White House that you'd like to mention?
Rhydian Jenkins:
Yes. There's been many to mention. Some of the achievements include the successful transition of road traffic single justice procedure work to the Common Platform, innovative pilots in Mold and method of the magistrates’ court, and significant improvements in the business continuity plans.
We've also reduced over 6,000 outstanding Cafcass Cymru claims to just 37 and expanded joint working initiatives such as the 2024 Police Disclosure Working Group.
Mold Crown Court also joined the jury support pilot, now offering Welsh language counseling for jurors. And then finally, we hosted several high profile visits, including the master of the roles topping off a productive and collaborative year for our Welsh team.
Aaron Wilson:
Well, it sounds like it's been a busy year in 2024 for the Welsh team, Rhyd, but wishing you all the best for 2025.
Rhydian Jenkins:
Thank you very much and we’ll see you then.
Aaron Wilson:
That was Rhydian there covering off some highlights in Wales for us.
Now as some of you may or may not know, HMCTS is also responsible for the administration of tribunals in Scotland.
As an incredibly important arm of justice, Hannah Jo tells us more about the best of the year north of the border.
Hi, Hannah Jo. Welcome to the podcast. Firstly, thanks for agreeing to come on and speak to us about some highlights in Scotland. I know, obviously, it's been a busy year for you guys in in Scotland, but how did 2024 kick off for you?
Hannah-Jo Bird
Hi Aaron, thanks for having me, so in January saw we snow and ice threaten hearings across Scotland, but thanks to our dedicated staff, no disruptions occurred. During this time, Employment Tribunals cleared 30,000 withdrawn equal pay cases, a major milestone. Then not long after in February, SSCS welcomed Glasgow University law students to observe hearings.
Aaron Wilson:
And have there been any other successful highlights that have supported the delivery of justice in Scotland that stand out to you?
Hannah-Jo Bird:
Yes. Definitely. In April, we introduced text message reminders for criminal injury compensation hearings, making the process more efficient for our users and representatives.
In June, the document submission service went live for criminal injury compensation jurisdiction, allowing appellants and representatives to upload documents digitally for hearings, which is an important step in the CIC reform journey.
Then we introduced a web chat in July for Social Security and Child Support, and the Immigration and Asylum Chamber went live with the appeals list assessed as an early adopter in the same month.
Aaron Wilson:
It sounds to me as though there's been some impressive work in the reading this year. Can you tell us how you celebrated success within the organisation? Any highlights there?
Hannah-Jo Bird:
July was a busy month with Regional Awards and not long after, at the National Awards, Edinburgh's own Aliya Arslan excelled on the stage, co-presenting at the HMCTS Awards.
Aaron Wilson:
I think you mentioned, obviously, it's been a really busy year, and we're obviously we do our highlights moving towards the end of the year here. So can you sort of wrap up from the last couple of months of what's happened to for you?
Hannah-Jo Bird:
So in September, Employment Tribunals welcomed staff from the advisory conciliation and arbitration service, providing them with an overview of the ET processing system and in the same month, criminal injury compensation reviewed all legacy cases to ensure effective progression of the caseload.
In October, alongside the service team, the Immigration and Asylum Chamber staff in Glasgow provided the IAC president and reform leadership judges with an overview of list assist and addressed any concerns ahead of the national rollout.
Lastly, in November, a member of our Edinburgh Employment Tribunal team spoke to the Northern Ireland and Scotland Schools Outreach Network about civil service careers. Then the Immigration and Asylum Chamber welcomed 50 university students to observe hearings and meet judges.
Aaron Wilson:
And just like that, we're at the end of another year. It's been another year of change across HMCTS, and 2025 will bring new challenge with it.
If you've enjoyed listening to the podcast this year or have any feedback, be sure to drop a comment on our blog page. Just search inside HMCTS podcast.
To keep in touch with our latest updates, you can follow us on our social media channels across Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and now with our WhatsApp updates channel.
But for now, from all of us at HMCTS, however you're spending the festive period, we hope you have a very merry Christmas and wish you all the best for the new year ahead.
